Lock your apps. Hide your photos.
Secure Folder is a free Android app lock and encrypted vault. Put WhatsApp, your gallery, messages or banking apps behind your fingerprint, then move the photos, videos and files you would rather nobody saw into a vault only your PIN can open.
Set it up in three steps
About a minute, no account needed.
- Choose your apps. Open Secure Folder and pick anything installed, chat, social, gallery, banking. There is no limit, and the app suggests the ones most people start with.
- Grant two permissions. Usage access lets the app notice when a protected app opens; display-over-other-apps lets the lock screen appear above it. A guided checklist walks you through both.
- Add anything you want hidden. Pick photos, videos, audio or files through Android’s own picker. They are encrypted, removed from your gallery, and only your recovery PIN opens them again.
Weighing up your options first? Our guide to how to lock apps on Android covers the built-in tools on Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO and Pixel phones before it covers ours.
An encrypted vault for photos, videos, audio and files
Hiding a photo should mean more than moving it to a folder called .private. Anything you add is encrypted with AES-256 before it is written to storage, using a key built from your recovery PIN.
Gone from your gallery
Hidden photos and videos are removed from the gallery, and no other app on the phone can read them.
Your PIN is the key
The key is derived from your recovery PIN. The PIN is not stored on the phone and not on a server, because there is no server.
It survives an uninstall
The vault lives in a folder you choose, not inside the app. Reinstall, point it back at the same folder, enter the same PIN, everything is still there.
Four kinds of thing
Photos, videos, audio and documents, each in their own section with its own count.
Open what you hid, without unhiding it
A vault you cannot look inside is just a very safe way to lose things. Tap any item and it opens full screen, swipe between them, play a video with proper play, pause and seek controls, check file details, share a single file, or restore it to where it came from.
Hide the app lock behind a calculator
An app locker sitting on the home screen tells people you have something to lock. Secure Folder can disguise its own icon as a Calculator, Weather app or Notepad.
It really calculates
The calculator disguise is a working calculator. Anyone who opens it just does maths.
Your PIN is the key
Type your secret PIN, press equals, and the vault opens instead of showing a result.
Four looks
Calculator, Weather, Notepad, or the plain vault icon if you would rather not disguise it at all.
What it looks like
More than a lock
Private browser
Browse with no history, no cookies and no cache. Everything from the session is erased when you close it.
Catch whoever is snooping
After repeated wrong attempts the front camera quietly takes a photo. It stays on your phone, and you can delete every one.
Hidden notifications
Messages from locked apps are replaced with a blank alert, so nothing readable reaches your lock screen.
Uninstall protection
When optional device-admin protection is enabled, Android requires it to be disabled before ordinary uninstall; the app also asks for your PIN before sensitive App Info actions. A device owner can still revoke admin access or reset the phone.
Your data does not leave your phone
No account, no server
Your PIN, your locked app list and every setting stay in the phone’s private storage. There is nothing to sign up for.
Backup only if you ask
You can keep an encrypted copy of the vault in your own Google Drive. Files are sealed before they leave the phone, so Drive only ever receives unreadable data.
PBKDF2, not plain text
Your PIN is stored with key-stretching, never as readable text, and it is never transmitted.
Biometrics stay with Android
Unlocking uses the official BiometricPrompt API. The app never sees or stores your fingerprint.
What this app does not ask for
It never requests all-files access, and it never reads your gallery. You choose each photo yourself through Android’s own picker, which is why Secure Folder can do all of this without the sweeping storage permission most vault apps demand on first run.
Common questions
How do I hide photos on Android with Secure Folder?
Open the vault, choose Photos, and pick the images you want through Android’s own picker. They are encrypted with AES-256 using a key built from your recovery PIN, removed from your gallery, and other apps receive only encrypted bytes unless they also obtain the recovery PIN and required vault data. Only your PIN opens them again.
Does hiding a photo delete it from my gallery?
Yes. The original is removed from the gallery once the encrypted copy is safely written. You can restore any item later and it goes back where it came from, with its original filename.
What happens to my vault if I uninstall the app?
Your vault lives in a folder you choose, not inside the app, so it survives an uninstall. Reinstall, point Secure Folder at the same folder and enter the same recovery PIN, and everything is there. The app also offers to move your files back to your gallery before it goes.
Is the Google Drive backup readable by Google?
No. Files are encrypted on your phone with a key built from your recovery PIN before they are uploaded, so Drive only ever receives unreadable data. MetaCyberGuru does not hold your recovery PIN or a server-side decryption key; recovery depends on your PIN and retained vault data. You can delete the whole cloud copy from inside the app.
Can I hide an app lock behind a calculator?
Yes. Secure Folder disguises its launcher icon as a Calculator, Weather app or Notepad. The calculator really works, your secret PIN plus equals opens the vault.
Does an app lock work without a fingerprint sensor?
Yes. It uses whatever screen lock your phone already has, so a PIN, pattern or password works fine, including on older Android 8 phones with no fingerprint sensor.
Why does an app locker need device admin permission?
Device admin stops the app being uninstalled to bypass your lock. It requests one policy, force-lock, and nothing else. It cannot read your messages, photos, files or contacts, and it cannot wipe your phone. Switch it off any time in Settings → Security → Device admin apps.
Is Secure Folder free?
Yes, free and ad-supported. One short video removes pop-up ads for 24 hours and the banner for 1 hour. No security feature is ever behind an ad or a payment.
Which Android versions are supported?
Android 8.0 and later.
Lock your apps and hide your photos in under a minute
Free, no account, no all-files access.